Lists vs. Stories
While having dinner with a friend recently, she commented that the primary concern for Christians today is to translate the precepts of Scripture for a postmodern audience. And I don't know what postmodern means, but i kindly disagreed with her and wondered out loud if we didn't need to stop translating the Bible for a modern audience, an audience endeared to the simplification of reality, an audience that likes to memorize lists in an attempt to understand God.
Perhaps if we stop reducing the text to formulas for personal growth, we can read it as stories of imperfect humans having relations with a perfect God and come to understand the obvious message He is communicating to mankind.
Donald Miller. SEARCHING FOR GOD KNOWS WHAT. "Free Verse: A Whole Message to a Whole Human Being."
posted by Argenteens at 2:25 PM
2 Comments:
Here is a quote that has influenced how I've been teaching lately - sounds like it's along the same lines to me.
"Most people want to wake up in the morning with a general at the foot of their bed saying 'Go do this.' The problem is there's somebody at the foot of their bed saying, 'Once upon a time. . .'"
N.T. Wright
Amen. The "stories" about Jesus and the stories he told seem to affect the "postmoderns" of today more than the bulleted PowerPoint lists of yesterday. They're looking for a conversation to enjoy.
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